Tonight's Movie: Stars in My Crown (1950)

One of my favorite actors, Joel McCrea, was born 109 years ago today in Pasadena, California. What better way to celebrate his birthday than by watching the film he considered his favorite, STARS IN MY CROWN (1950)?

Somehow, despite my great fondness for McCrea, I'd yet to see STARS IN MY CROWN.  I made sure I'd finally see it this year by putting it on my list of 10 Classics to watch in 2014.

As expected, STARS IN MY CROWN proved to be a rich, moving piece of Americana which takes its place alongside CANYON PASSAGE (1946) as one of my favorite films from director Jacques Tourneur.

On the flip side, I wasn't expecting the film to have such sustained dark overtones, but perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised coming from the director of CAT PEOPLE (1942) and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)! (The latter film, incidentally, starred McCrea's wife, Frances Dee.) Yet although McCrea, playing a minister, must constantly battle fear, weariness, and downright evil, goodness always prevails.

STARS IN MY CROWN is the story of life in a small town in the years after the Civil War, mostly as seen through the eyes of young John Kenyon (Dean Stockwell, perfect as always). John is being raised by his Aunt Harriet (Ellen Drew) and her husband Josiah (Joel McCrea), the town parson.

The townspeople include Josiah's wartime comrade in arms, Jed (Alan Hale Sr.), and Jed's five towheaded sons (who include James Arness). There's the pretty schoolteacher (Arness's later GUNSMOKE costar, Amanda Blake), who's sweet on the stuffy young doctor (James Mitchell) who doesn't want to remain in the same town long served by his doctor father (Lewis Stone).

Juano Hernandez, who was so good in TRIAL (1955), plays Uncle Famous, a black man the nasty storekeeper (Ed Begley Sr.) tries to force to sell his land.

The parson must face down a lynch mob who come for Uncle Famous in the film's climatic sequence. Along the way there is also a serious typhoid epidemic which tests both the parson and the doctor.

The film is a succession of memorable scenes and images, starting immediately with the parson's family getting ready for their Sunday dinner after church; while Harriet finishes cooking in the screened porch and shoos flies away from the cake she's just frosted, the parson and his nephew lick icing off the cake as the parson winks at the little boy. There's an easy familiarity among the three which draws the viewer in immediately.

John's childhood is in some ways idyllic, fishing with Uncle Famous and riding in a hay wagon with his friend Chase (Norman Ollestad), secure in the love of his aunt and uncle; but after nearly dying of typhoid, John also experiences hunger when the townspeople quit supporting the parson during a quarantine, and he's an eyewitness to the near-lynching of his beloved Uncle Famous. He also learns a tremendous life lesson when he sees how the parson disperses the mob without a shot fired.

That moment is followed by a wonderful bit when we see Alan Hale Sr. and his older sons hiding behind trees, guns at the ready should the parson have needed them. Hale is marvelous in this; it was one of his last films. His character Jed may not be a church-going man, but he and his sons are immediately there to aid Uncle Famous after his little farm is raided by night riders. The final scene in church revolves around Hale and is both funny and moving enough that my eyes watered a bit, as organist Harriet launches into her husband's favorite hymn, which is also the title of the film.

As with Hale, this was also one of the last films in which Lewis Stone appeared. He has a single scene, sharing his concerns about his son and the town with the parson, during which he comments that the next time he leaves his home, the parson will help to carry him out. That took on even more emotional resonance given that Stone would die not too many years later, in 1953.

James Mitchell, who had previously costarred with McCrea in COLORADO TERRITORY (1949), is really fine as the doctor who starts out as a huffy know-it-all, gradually revealing more layers underneath as he grows and matures while caring for the townspeople. Mitchell was a very talented man, being a fine dancer as well as an actor.

The film tends to focus on how the parson and his family relate to the town, but the sequence in which John battles typhoid is quite moving, particularly the scene in which Harriet cries that she wishes she'd always been sweeter to John and thinks of him as her own child, while her husband lovingly removes her hairpins and tries to get her to rest. It's beautifully acted and filmed. Though I've singled out this one scene, both McCrea and Drew are pitch perfect throughout.

The screenplay of this 89-minute film was by Joe David Brown, based on his novel. This was one of the last films shot by Charles Schoenbaum, who died in 1951.

STARS IN MY CROWN is available on DVD in a remastered print from the Warner Archive. The disc includes the trailer; Joel McCrea's introduction was filmed on his ranch.

This is a special film which I know will reward repeat viewings by revealing additional details and insights. Highly recommended.

Jacques Tourner films previously reviewed at Laura's Miscellaneous Musings: NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE (1939), PHANTOM RAIDERS (1940), CAT PEOPLE (1942), I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943), THE LEOPARD MAN (1943), EXPERIMENT PERILOUS (1944), CANYON PASSAGE (1946), EASY LIVING (1949), CIRCLE OF DANGER (1951), STRANGER ON HORSEBACK (1955), WICHITA (1955), and NIGHTFALL (1957).

Related post: Book Review: Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall.